All Is Fair
by MargsLover
Summary: It's the premise that you're all familiar with - Alicia must return to the legal world after her husband's scandal. Unlike the show, however, Alicia finds work without Will's help and they aren't friends. In fact, they're anything -but- friends. Join the pair's rollercoaster between bitter rivalry and attraction, where all is fair in love and war.
1. Desperate

**A/N: Hi so I'm literally just running with this and haven't thought out where I'll actually go with this story, just got BORED ahaha. Please pipe in with any suggestions/things you wanna see happen and enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 1: Desperate

Alicia chokes back sobs into her hand. Is this a panic attack? She can't breathe. The elevator moving, her stomach dropping as it descends to the ground floor, is what drags her back to reality.

No one can see her like this.

She frantically wipes away her tears with shaking hands. The elevator dings before opening to the lobby as she walks out, avoiding everyone's eyes.

Back in the new apartment that she now suddenly can't afford, she tries to come up with a plan. She needs money, fast, she needs a job. She's done interview after interview. No one will take her because of this scandal. She's being pushed back again and again.

No one wants her.

Peter will be able to find work in a fraction of the time, once he gets out of prison. He's already planning his rehabilitation. Yet Alicia is nothing more than her husband's scandal. The wife of a cheating sleaze.

Well, if _that_ isn't a commentary on the way women are still viewed in society...

She sits up abruptly. That's _it. _She needs somewhere that will be sympathetic to her plight as a woman, a woman needing to support her family. Someone she knows.

_Diane Lockhart. _

She remembers working with her, her involvement in Emily's list before she had her kids, how much she looked up to Diane. That's who she'd wanted to be before... well, before _everything. _She frantically grabs for her phone and dials.

Her heart races as it rings - she should've planned and thought about what she was going to say. Too late now.

You have to do this immediately, Alicia, you have to _fight._

* * *

In the elevator up to the 28th floor, Alicia is nervously fidgeting and trying to take steadying breaths. This interview needs to go well, it _really_ needs to go well.

The elevator doors open. She instantly spots Diane, thankfully, who perks up once she notices her arrival. Alicia doesn't take the time to register anything, however. She's too shell-shocked by who she sees standing next to the elegant lawyer.

Will Gardner.

_Of course._ Why had she not thought of this before? She knew that Diane's partner's surname was Gardner, she just didn't think it was _that_ Gardner. Holy hell, she hopes that Will has forgotten and moved on from everything at Georgetown.

"Ah, perfect timing," Diane announces. "Will, this is Alicia Florrick. Alicia, Will Gardner, name partner here also."

"Actually-" Alicia is about to explain that they already know each other, but Will reaches out a hand.

"Nice to meet you," he offers politely. There's a slight quirk of his lips, but it doesn't fool Alicia. His eyes are stormy.

What on earth? He _must_ remember her. Why is he pretending that he doesn't? Maybe he really _hasn't_ moved on...

In a daze, Alicia simply holds out her hand as a reflex and he shakes it. She'll have to ask him about this later. He can't possibly have forgotten. She remembers like it was yesterday. She remembers _them._

* * *

_Alicia isn't stupid, she knows the looks that Will has been giving her. She's still with Peter, but it still makes her feel wanted. She doesn't shy away from it. She's leaned into every pointed comment, every lingering gaze at her. And now, tonight, after having probably the worst fight in history with Peter, she doesn't even think about it before going to Will._

_He opens the door to his dorm room in sweatpants and his Georgetown T-shirt. His hair is a little muffled. She likes it that way. She had planned to do nothing more but vent to Will, he's always such a good listener. But seeing him standing in front of her, as he reaches out to put a hand on her arm, she's losing her better judgment._

_"You okay?" He asks after a moment of Alicia just staring at him._

_She doesn't think, she just does. Her body takes over as she steps forward, slides her arms around him. Will is still motionless, except for the slight lean into her body as they make contact. His breath is warm and it practically calls for her to get to know his lips better. So she does._

_His lips are a lot softer than anyone else she's ever kissed. Most guys instantly just try and shove their tongue down her throat. It kind of ruins the whole experience. But Will, oh Will is different. His mouth teases her and she's practically the one who shoves her tongue down his throat. He responds in kind though, pulling her in, grabbing her ass and trailing his lips down her neck. Everything is on fire, her heart is racing. She's never felt like this with Peter._

_Why has she never felt like this with Peter?_

_He takes her hand and leads her inside. After unceremoniously kicking the door shut, he stops in front of her and pulls her in to kiss her again. He's taking off his shirt, unbuttoning hers. They're actually doing this._

_Until they aren't. Until there's a knock at the door. Until Peter's voice is heard through the wall._

_"Alicia! I know you're in here, talk to me, please. Open up, Alicia!"_

_Her and Will freeze. His face falls. __What should she do? She frantically glances between him and the door, buttoning up her shirt. The door knocks again._

_Will sighs, frowns at the door. "It's me or him, Alicia."_

_She begins to think that such an ultimatum, asking her to choose so quickly, is unfair - but she knows that stringing Will along is even worse. She closes her eyes, thinks for a moment. She's still reeling from this moment between them. Something about her and Will together is... electric. But should she give up everything with Peter just for that? A spark? He's been talking about getting serious with her, really serious. And Will... well, she doesn't even have a label for that._

_"I..." her words die out before she says anything. All she can do is kiss him again - a kiss goodbye. "I'm sorry," she whispers. She walks to the door, straightens up her shirt and clears her throat. She doesn't look back to see the hurt that she fears is on Will's face. _

* * *

_"_No," Will dismisses firmly. He lets the papers with references and CV fall onto his desk with a _thwack._

Diane blanches. "Can I ask _why_?"

"You know exactly why. This whole thing with her husband and the scandal is too damaging. She hasn't worked in... how many years? No. We're going with Cary."

"Now, hang on," Diane snaps. "That's not how we make decisions here. How many times have I stood by you with decisions that I don't always agree with?"

"Do you owe her something, does she have something on you?" Will asks tauntingly.

"Do you have something personally _against_ her?" She fires back. After a moment she continues in a more even tone. "She's a _friend_. And one of the smartest people I knew over at Crozier, Abrams, and Abbot. Give her a chance, Will. For me."

Will is silent for a moment, a contemplative frown. "We'll take them both on. For 6 months. Then decide who to keep."

* * *

"Now I'll be honest, Will is going to need some convincing that you're valuable here," Diane admits later in her office, warning Alicia who is sitting nervously across from her at her desk. "Do your best to prove that to him. I want you to think of me as a mentor - women helping women, it's the closest thing we have to an old boys network here, okay?"

"Okay," Alicia responds shakily. She wonders if Will has said anything at all about them at Georgetown. He probably hasn't, he's too prideful - that is if he's still anything like he was back at law school.

Things were never the same with them after that night. It was the beginning of a downward spiral, from that point everything completely deteriorated. Looking over towards Will in his office, however, he seems so much more grown-up. It makes her realize that they really were still kids back then. Time to be adults now. She takes a steadying breath and knocks at Will's open office door. Her heart is pounding. "Do you have a minute?" She asks. Will frowns and nods. "I just- I hope you don't have a problem, with my being here. Diane and I are old friends, she offered me an interview, I didn't know you were here- and with everything back at Georgetown..." she didn't know how to get the next part out. What was she supposed to say? '_Why the hell are you pretending like you don't know me?'_

"It's fine," Will answers lowly. "I just... that part of my life is over. I'm a different person now. I just hope you'll be able to keep up here at the firm, with a family and being in the public eye-"

"I can do it," she assures him with every ounce of confidence she has. Which isn't very much at all, but hey - fake it till you make it.

As soon as she leaves, she lets out a large breath of air that she hadn't noticed she'd been holding. She can actually do this, right?

Alicia shakes her head. She _has_ to do this.


	2. History

**Hey! FINALLY, right? Life gets in the way. Maybe go back skim over the first chapter so you remember what's happened. I'll try be more regular with updates for this and my other story too, but no promises with my track record hehehe. It's probably full of typos but I just wanted to post it already. Let me know if you have any suggestions, corrections about stuff or if you just like it! enjoy and thanks for the first reviews/follows xx**

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Chapter 2: History

**— Georgetown, 1993 —**

"Hey," Rachel and Michelle smile and greet Alicia as she takes her seat. Seat 35L. She glances around with a frown. Where is Will? She barely slept at all, worrying about seeing him today after what happened last night and thinking about what she would say. She sighs and turns back around once she sees him walk in. Except he goes down a different aisle with Aaron. He takes a seat with some other guys, half of whom she doesn't even recognise. Now the anxiety is surging through her.

After barely paying any attention to the criminal procedure lecture, she rises from her seat as fast as possible.

"Will- Will!" She calls out, fighting against the wave of people to reach him. He doesn't respond, even with his friend Aaron's pointed looks towards her. "Oh, so we're pretending I don't exist now. That's great, how mature," she snarks as she reaches him.

Will finally looks up with a frown. "You're really going to lecture me about maturity? Maybe save that for when you've grown up and learnt how to make up your mind for once." Everyone around them who was rushing out of the lecture theatre is now slowing to watch them.

"What? That's not fair-"

"Too bad," Will snaps. The students are becoming more and more invested in their exchange, watching intently. "You might have trouble with your decisions, but I'm making mine."

"Why do things have to go bad between us?" She asks, as everyone hushes a little more. "Can't we... can't we stay friends-"

Their classmates get even more excited at this, particularly the guys. "Oooooh Gardener's been _friendzoned_!" Will ignores them, steps forward through all the guys around him grabbing his shoulders jokingly and shaking him. He fixes his stormy glare right onto Alicia.

"We both know that wouldn't work," he says in a low voice as the others quieten down to hear what he says. "You can't control yourself around me. If last night's any indication, you don't seem to be able to _give it away fast enough_."

It takes every bit of Alicia's strength to stop her jaw from falling to the ground. How _dare_ he?! The surrounding classmates, particularly the guys, begin to roar and cheer even louder at this. Luckily by then Rachel and Michelle have appeared by her side to help lead her out.

"What an ass," Rachel says with an arm around her.

Alicia sighs. "Can we just get out of here?"

They end up in a coffee shop, where Alicia spills to her friends about everything that happened the night before. "He's still an ass," Rachel insists.

"But it's my fault too," Alicia says quietly and looks down. "I shouldn't have..."

"It doesn't mean he can treat you like that, Alicia."

"Yeah, he's only acting like this because he's totally into you anyway," Michelle adds, piping in. "He wouldn't be so mad otherwise, he cares and you've hurt his pride. Don't listen to a word of it."

"It's fine, I'll be fine," Alicia assures with a sigh.

They never find out that later, as soon as she's alone, she finds herself sobbing into her pillow. Why did she have to screw everything up?

* * *

_**— ****Lockhart/Gardner, 2009**** —**_

"Your instructions were simple, follow the strategy of the first trial," Will reprimands. "Instead, you're pushing for evidence that might not even help your case."

Alicia clenches her sweaty palms into fists under her folder "I interviewed the first jury, and they voted eleven to one to convict-"

"No, it was evenly split," Will argues, cutting her off.

Alicia huffs a breath of air before explaining. "Half the jurors switched their votes when they couldn't get a troubled juror to deliberate." She pauses, turning to Diane for some kind of hope in this situation. "So, I used my judgment to change strategies."

There's a moment of silence, before Will pipes in again. He's clearly trying to save face in the argument now. "And was it your judgment to not update us?"

As Alicia walks back to her office, she rubs her temples to try and ease the headache that she feels coming on. She had no option but to change her strategy with this Jennifer Lewis case. She _would_ be convinced that this is just an outright attack from Will, if he didn't have a legitimate point. She should've updated them, this is her very first case here. She has to keep this job, she needs to do it right and this case needs to go well. The air still isn't clear between her and Will, she needs to talk to him again. She sighs and looks down at her already cluttered desk. She'll do it a_fter_ she finishes going through this pitted evidence.

Once Alicia's done, she begins to head off to find Will when his voice grabs her attention along the way. She locates him standing at the door of the office of one of the equity partners. "They were never going to last," Will tells him with a quirk of his lips, tossing a baseball between his hands. "That much is obvious, if him sucking the toes of hookers is anything to go by."

A surge of embarrassment runs through Alicia. They're talking about Peter, Peter and _her_. As the two men have a good laugh, Alicia just stands at the doorway. She waits. Will eventually swivels around casually to see her there, and she sees the exact moment it dawns on him that she's heard his snide comments. She doesn't need to say anything, nothing at all. She tries to remain expressionless as she glances between the two men and then stalks off.

"Alicia..." he starts with a grimace, running after her. "What I... I didn't mean for you to-"

She's about to reign in her reaction, tell him emotionlessly that it's fine.

But it isn't fine.

She steels herself; advances towards him. "You seem to have a great deal of opinions about me, and my relationships. But hey, not to worry - I have plenty of my own about _you,_ as well. You wanna hear them?" She asks bitingly, with an icy smile. "I'm not surprised you're still the arrogant jerk you've always been," she begins, narrowing her eyes menacingly. "But you've never quite had the goods to back it up, though, have you? It comes as absolutely no surprise to me that you're still unable to hold down any kind of meaningful, solid or long term relationship. You were always too much of a _boy_ for those things, weren't you? Sure, the ladies liked you for a little while but they never wanted to stick around. No wonder I stayed with Peter."

"Oh, and he's really stuck by _you _recently, hasn't he?" Will scoffs sarcastically. "It's not like you can hold down a relationship either."

That does it for Alicia, something about what he says makes her heat up in so much _anger_. So she snaps. "Go to hell, Will!"

"What exactly is going on, here?" She hears from behind her.

Diane.

_Shit_. She needs this job, she should never have said _any_ of those things. How on earth had she suddenly managed to decline _decades_ in maturity? She bites the inside of her lip. She really, really needs this job.

* * *

**— Georgetown, 1993 —**

"This is ridiculous," Alicia grumbles, taking a seat at the front of the practically empty lecture hall. Wearing a cardigan and flannel pyjamas, no less.

"Oh come on, where's your sense of adventure!" She hears from one of the guys.

"We aren't going to set off any alarms, are we?"

"No, Aaron does this all the time, stop your worrying," Daniel assures while switching on the lights.

They pull out the overhead projector and an empty plastic sheet, to write 'Gardner v. Cavanaugh' at the top of a drawn-out table with two columns for adding up scores.

"Okay, ladies and gents. This is a hearing to determine the rightful recipient of bragging rights for the upcoming semester. All the marks are currently being added up by our trusty mathematician, Aaron."

"_This is ridiculous_," Alicia repeats more forcefully.

"Why? You might come out the winner! You probably will. I'd sure bet on you." Jason argues.

"So would I," Michelle pipes in. "Wine?" She offers right after, pouring some into a plastic cup. In the _lecture hall._ Alicia simply frowns at her, but is met with a shrug. "What? I would."

"So it's just bragging rights if I win?" Alicia asks dubiously.

"Well, it's more about what happens if you lose," Aaron starts with a grin.

"Why is Will agreeing to this, anyway?" Alicia asks. She doesn't bother directly addressing him, he's been avoiding her eyes the whole time.

"We do this at the end of every semester, but with all the guys. Not just you and Will."

"Order, order!" Jason calls, climbing to stand on top of the table at the front of the hall. "Order in the court, please. Will, Alicia," he gestures. Will, who seems to know what the drill is, stands up on the table next to him. Alicia gapes up at the signal from the boys, who hold out their hands to help her up onto table with them. "In the matter of Gardner v. Cavanaugh, the jury finds in favor of..." every one starts a drum roll on the table or their laps. "Cavanaugh!" Daniel announces, holding up the sheet in one hand and raising up Alicia's arm in victory with the other.

The girls cheer, the guys laugh at Will who rolls his eyes exaggeratedly. Aaron pulls from out of nowhere a plastic crown and passes it to Will. "Because we don't have one of those British wigs for barristers," Will explains. She swallows nervously, bending down so he can place it on her head. Next is a judge's robe, which he helps to slide around her shoulders. She shakes her head and lets out a resigned laugh.

"Right, it's your turn Will," Aaron grins. He pulls out some pink fluffy handcuffs, and places it in Alicia's hands. "You get to do the honours."

Alicia blinks. Looks between Will and his buddy. "I'm supposed to..."

"Yep. He's gotta break into Professor Hyland's office drawer and drink from his whisky bottle with his hands cuffed in front of him."

Alicia eyes bug out and she shakes her head. "It's a good thing I won..." she mumbles, turning to Will who holds out his hands. His face is expressionless. This is almost worse than before, she wishes that he would just get angry or yell at her. Something, _anything_. Her eyes don't leave his as the cuffs lock around his wrists.

"Come on, free entry isn't for much longer!" Everyone stands and rushes out of the lecture theater.

"Free entry?" Alicia asks, "Where?"

Jason laughs. "Oh, young grasshopper, you have much to learn."

* * *

_**— ****Lockhart/Gardner, 2009**** —**_

Diane looks beyond exasperated with Will, but he continues his defensive ranting anyway. "She's a junior associate who doesn't _act_ like she's one. Her husband was a state's attorney. She lived in Highland Park. It's not only teaching an old dog new tricks, she's so damned _entitled_ as well."

"Come on, Will," Diane reprimands in that scary, commanding yet still elegant tone of hers. "The issue here is that she's catching evidence that you overlooked. And I can tell there's obviously more of a history here than you're telling me. Was this a fling gone bad? Were you seeing each other in law sch-"

Will heats up. He needs to change the subject. "What- Excuse me? This isn't about that at all."

"Oh, like hell it isn't. I will _not_ under _any _circumstances allow this to impact her work here. If she's playing a role in this also, I will look into that too, but you _cannot_ make these decisions for personal reasons. It's wrong, and it's _sexist_. Did she turn you down or something?"

Will doesn't specifically answer Diane, but they manage to argue like an old married couple for another ten minutes before he's out of there. It's nothing new. He supposes for once he should do as he's told, swallow his pride and properly apologise to Alicia. He never would've made those comments if he knew she would hear them. Man, he's really seeing the truth to that cliche about how what people say behind your back is none of your business. He hopes to never hear what other people say about him when they think he's not around.

He knocks on her open door. "Hey. I just wanted to say good job on the homicide. The homicide _case_, I mean-" he stammers, but it seems to disarm Alicia. Her facial expression softens to show the slightest hint of amusement. "I'm sorry for being an ass. Believe me, Diane's lectured me about it already. I do know I shouldn't talk like that. Especially to other staff. And none of this will impact any decisions we make with regards to you and Cary here." Alicia's face moulds back into the indecipherable expression that he used to spend way too much time thinking about, completely transfixed by.

"Okay," is all she responds with, as she nods slowly.

* * *

**— Georgetown, 1993 —**

It's actually lucky that she has this judge's robe on, she would look even _more_ absurd in this nightclub wearing just her pyjamas. At least this way, people might think she's just wearing some kind of fancy dress costume, especially with the crown as well. Everyone keeps buying her drinks- another perk of winning apparently. She's very very tipsy, and probably still looks ridiculous in this outfit but she feels amazing. Will is even joining in on the fun now and laughing at her, while everyone laughs at him in his pink fluffy handcuffs. This is totally not how she expected her evening to go. She isn't one to stay up all night partying on a _weekday, _but it's the end of semester and she figures she should live a little.

"They knew you'd won," Will tells her at some point that night, loudly over the music.

"What?" She calls back over the music.

"They knew. Before we did all this, they already knew you'd beaten me this semester. They felt bad about everything the other day."

"They did?" Alicia asks, genuinely surprised as she sips her drink.

"Yeah," he nods. He bites his lip and looks around. "So did I," he admits after a pregnant pause.

"So you guys did all this for me?" Alicia asks, exaggeratedly- drunkenly- touched.

"Hey, don't get too cocky," he laughs. "This is a well-established tradition amongst us guys. But they're sick of me never losing, so they got you involved."

"Me, huh?" Alicia grins. "The only person who can beat you."

Will rolls his eyes. "This was their way of saying sorry."

"Yours too?" She asks.

Will raises an eyebrow. "I guess," he admits.

She giggles into her drink and plops it down on the counter. "I'm sorry too," she eventually replies and leans over to rest her head on his shoulder. Just as she begins to worry that such a move is a drunken mistake, he responds in kind by lifting his still-handcuffed arms over her head to surround her and pull her in closer. She lets out a boisterous laugh and grins into his shoulder. Everything's going to be fine.

Later, she finds herself dancing on top of the table that she doesn't remember climbing up onto. She's bound to regret this tomorrow, but it's her _favourite song_ and this buzzy feeling is making it sound even better and she's wearing a crown so she feels like a _queen_. In an instant, however, she's opened her eyes properly and she suddenly feels very _very _high up. Her body sways, stomach dropping slightly.

"Will, I can't get down!" She cries. "What if I fall?!"

Will laughs and steps closer to hold his arms out, the handcuffs now held in one hand. "I've got you."

Alicia giggles drunkenly. "You've got me?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, but how do I-"

"Just, cmon put your arms around me," he instructs exasperatedly.

So she does. She adjusts her plastic crown, feels the fabric of her robe sliding around his shoulders and floats through the air, wrapped in Will's arms.


End file.
